I am always interested in the history of the interpretation of the “Ancient of Days” in Daniel 7 (something I focused on in a previous work project). Here are two examples of Christadelphians interpreting the “Ancient of Days” to be, in some way, the person of Jesus:
In verse 13 we read: “One like unto the Son of Man (those
like him—his brethren) came with the clouds of heaven (the angels sent out to
gather his elect), and came to the Ancient of Days (the manifestation of the
Eternal—Jesus), and they (angels) brought him (the multitudinous Son of Man)
near before him” (the Ancient of Days). ("The Judgment Seat of Christ and
the Throne of His Glory," The Christadelphian 56, no. 665 [November
1, 1919): 448)
F.G.C. writes:—Who is “The Ancient of Days” of Daniel’s
prophecy? Some say he is God the Father and others say he is the Lord Jesus
Christ. Can you enlighten me?
Answer:—In a sense both are right, because the Lord Jesus
Christ is the manifestation of the Father. And whatever difficulty may attach
to the understanding of the phrase, is really due to lack of clear
understanding and recognition of this fact. In our Hymn No. 42 we rightly use
the expression with reference to the “Almighty” Creator of all things. In Dan.
9:9 we read “I beheld till the thrones were set (R.V.) and the Ancient of days
did sit . . .” Here there is obviously a
plural Theophany in question. It is God’s throne (compare Ezek. 43:7; Rev. 20:4); but it is God the Father,
manifested in the Lord Jesus Christ and the redeemed, who occupies the thrones. In Dan. 7:13 the expression
obviously means God the Father:—“One like the Son of Man came with the clouds
of heaven, and came to the Ancient of days, and they brought him near before
him. And there was given him
dominion.” With this agrees Christ’s own parable of the nobleman concerning
“the Kingdom of God” (Lu. 19:11–27). And his declaration: “I ascend unto my
Father” (John 20:7). In Dan. 7:22 we read that the little horn “made war with
the saints until the Ancient of days came, and judgment was given to the saints of the most High; and the time
came that the saints possessed the
Kingdom.” Here obviously the expression covers the manifestation of God the
Father in Christ and “the saints” agreeably with the parable of Lu. 19., where
Jesus says he will give them “authority” over “cities” in proportion to their
faithful service during his absence.
Nothing could be clearer than Dr. Thomas’ remarks in the Exposition of Daniel (p. 14):—
“The Little Horn prevailed against them, until the
Ancient of Days came.” Here is a point of time beyond which the misfortunes of
the Holy Ones do not extend. It is the turning-point in their career in
relation to the “dreadful and terrible, and exceedingly strong” dominion that
makes such dreadful havoc on the earth—a dominion which no earth-born power can
subdue.
The coming of the Ancient of Days is a great event in
this prophecy. He is said to sit, and one like the Son of Man to be brought to
him, after which he is said to come. When the prophecy was delivered, He had
not manifested himself in the flesh—the Son of Man had not been born; hence
that peculiar representative mode of expression: but he has since been born, or
manifested, and gone into a far country, where the manifested Son has appeared
in the presence of the Ancient of Days, or the Father, for the purpose of
receiving from him “Dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all people, and
nations, and languages, should serve him; and all rulers obey him.”
Though these things are promised to him, and though he is
the heir of them all, he has not received them; as is manifest from the fact
that “all people, and nations, and languages” serve the rulers of the Gentiles,
and especially that system of governments represented by the Greco-Roman
Dragon. But when the time appointed arrives, as the Ancient of Days embodied in
the holy spiritual nature, he will come, having received power and authority to
take the dominion, glory, and kingdom, promised him. Thus the Ancient of Days
comes, and “sits in Jerusalem, the Holy City, to judge all the nations round
about”—there he sits, “his throne being like the fiery flame, and his wheels as
burning fire”; and sends forth from before him a stream of fir. (C. C. Walker, “’The
Ancient of Days’ (Dan. 7:9, 13, 22),” The Christadelphian 66, no. 786 [December
1, 1929]: 547; cf. this
post where I quote from Walker’s 1929 book, Theophany)
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